"No... I didn't! Boss, you have to believe me!"
Titan's eyes bulged.
For a moment he was completely bewildered.
Wait, who are you all talking about? Do I even know that person?
Why haven't I heard of any of these things you're saying?
The worst part was that everyone present spoke with such conviction it nearly convinced Titan himself—
—Could I really be the mole?
The old man on the screen began to breathe heavily.
The room's temperature seemed to drop. Outside, darkness boiled, as though the night swallowed all light, not even the faintest starlight visible.
Everyone present, even the weakest, were at least dark duelists—sensitive to the supernatural. Feeling the change, they understood what was happening.
A Shadow Game.
The boss had initiated a Shadow Game across space, through the screen.
Not impossible. Back in Duelist Kingdom, Pegasus had mailed a videotape to invite Yugi and used the Millennium Eye's power on the tape to start a Shadow Duel.
Kagemaru couldn't compare to the Millennium Eye, but doing it via real-time video is far easier than Pegasus's prerecorded trick. Just like in GX, Zane and Jesse could duel across dimensions.
"Tch... fine, a duel it is."
Titan's voice hardened.
"I'm no longer the outsider you dragged into the organization."
His chest-mounted duel disk activated, auto-shuffling before ejecting five cards into his hand.
Titan narrowed his eyes. "If I win, I'll take the seat of Shadow Riders' leader. Heh... sounds good."
On the other side, Kagemaru also deployed a duel disk. The silhouette on-screen remained indistinct; only metallic servos and mechanisms could be heard. Only Lyman knew that was the life-support rig's robotic arm moving.
Kagemaru's body was immobile in the vitals tank; even dueling required a mechanical arm to wear and operate the disk.
This development was outside Kira's plan.
Kagemaru had mentioned missing "live alchemical materials," which he hadn't personally tracked, but he suspected Lyman. Since everyone present had coordinated beforehand, they unanimously shoved the only non-insider—Titan—under the bus.
Still, it was a good chance to see how Kagemaru duels.
In the anime, Kagemaru debuted by seizing the three Sacred Beasts and only fought once with a deck specialized around them. Before he got the Beasts, nobody knew what he ran.
Now's a good time to find out.
"I'll go first. Draw."
Kagemaru's voice was murky.
"Spell: Pot of Greed—draw two cards."
Metallic sounds accompanied the mechanical arm drawing cards, making Titan vaguely uneasy.
"Set one monster in face-down defense."
"And set two cards. Turn end."
A set monster and backrow—no read on his deck yet.
"My turn. Draw!"
Titan glanced at his card, smirked.
"Since joining the Shadow Riders, I haven't been idle. Let me show you my upgraded Fiend deck!
I summon 'Archfiend Cavalry'!"
[Archfiend Cavalry, ATK 1900]
"Archfiend Cavalry attacks the set monster!"
The skeletal steed shrieked and charged; the lance pierced through the set monster, flipping it up.
To Kira's surprise, it was the opposite of what he expected stylistically—
A small, even cute, avian beast, tiny wings tucked inside a transparent airflow shield.
[Air Sphere, DEF 300]
A Sphere deck?
This is the "Sphere" theme used by manga Aster Phoenix's counterpart—well, in the manga, Atticus is a totally different beast from the anime's jobbing legend. Manga Atticus actually deserves the title of king, on par with Zane as DA's ceiling.
Manga Jaden and Chazz weren't in the same league. Chazz was nearly OTK'd by Zane, and Jaden was helplessly crushed by Atticus—though Atticus was under Tragoedia's control then.
The Sphere cards did get printed—but only three; most still aren't.
Kagemaru using this theme was unexpected, not at all the impression Kira had of him. But he recalled Lyman said Kagemaru now was a different man entirely.
All of Kira's understanding came from the anime boss; he knew nothing of the man before.
"Trap activate," Kagemaru said coolly. "Wind Pressure Compensation. When your monster destroys a monster by battle, that attacker changes to Defense Position." (manga card)
A gale swept past Titan's field; Archfiend Cavalry was forced to defense.
[Archfiend Cavalry, ATK 1900 → DEF 0]
"Tch, targeting my fiends' low DEF, huh?"
Titan grunted, eyeing a card in hand.
But breaking his line wouldn't be so easy.
"I set one card. Turn end."
"My turn. Draw."
The mechanical arm placed another card. A projection appeared on the screen's field.
"Spell: Graceful Charity—draw three, discard two."
The draw-discard motions were quick and practiced—no slower than a human's.
"Then I Normal Summon 'Transforming Sphere'!"
[Transforming Sphere, ATK 100]
One of the three Sphere cards that actually got printed.
"Transforming Sphere: discard 1 card; target an opponent's Defense Position monster.
Equip that monster to this card!"
Titan: "!"
Absorb a Defense-position monster—so that trap was the setup?
"I see—bait the attack, flip the trap to force Defense, then Transforming Sphere equips it," Tania narrated like a ringside commentator.
"A nasty combo."
Archfiend Cavalry was now stuffed into a transparent bubble, bound beneath the Transforming Sphere and unable to move.
"Transforming Sphere gains ATK equal to the equipped monster's ATK."
[Transforming Sphere, ATK 100 → 2000]
"Direct attack, Transforming Sphere!"